What is Debt To Equity Ratio: Definition & Meaning Explained

Expense Ratio

An expense ratio is a management fee that investors must pay for the services of the fund manager and their team. Mutual funds are handled by fund managers who take care of everyday stock analysis, buying & selling, and other activities. The expense ratio is a fee to compensate for this day-to-day management.

Lock In

Lock-in is the period during which you can not sell shares or other financial instruments. The purpose of a lock-in is to ensure that the price and liquidity of the instrument do not take a sudden nosedive. Lock-in is commonly applied to shares held by promoters or major shareholders. You may have heard the term while investing in mutual funds as well, where it is used in reference to close-ended funds and ELSS funds.

Fair Value

The fair value of a stock, product, or service is the price at which the buyer and seller willingly agree on without being on the losing end of the deal. Think of fair value as a win-win situation for both parties, assuming that all conditions are normal.

Say Mr. Apple is offered to buy shares of Mr. Orange’s company at Rs. 1000 per share. Mr. Apple evaluates the business and figures out that he can sell the same shares for Rs. 1200, even though Mr. Orange is content to sell the shares at Rs. 200 lower. Both parties agree on the deal at Rs. 1000 because both view it as a good deal.

The formula for the fair value of a stock or index is:

Fair Value = Cash * { 1 + r (X / 360)} - D

Where,

Cash = Latest stock or index value

r = interest rate on purchase

x = number of days to contract expiry

Dividend = Dividends

The definition of fair value is slightly different in the futures market. In the futures market, the fair value is reached when the supply meets the demand, which simply means that the spot price is equal to the futures contractprice.

However, due to inherent volatility of the markets, the price of a futures contract is known to fluctuate around the fair value of a stock or index. Thus, in the fair value in the context of futures is what the price of the contract should be, given the value of the stock or index, dividends, and others.

Diversification

Diversification is the act of investing in more than one asset class, sector, industry, or country to mitigate risk. It is an investment strategy designed to reduce risk by pairing a volatile asset class like equities with a fixed income asset class like fixed deposits. Or, by investing in equities in one country and complementing it by investing a portfolio in stocks from another country.

Interest Coverage Ratio

Interest Coverage Ratio (ICR) is used to determine the likelihood of a company’s ability to pay interest on existing outstanding debt. A low ICR typically indicates that a company is less likely to pay interest.

In fact, it indicates that the company may be heading towards bankruptcy. A higher ICR means that a company’s financial health is solid and more than likely to pay interest on existing outstanding debt.

Intrinsic Value Of Share

Intrinsinc value of a share is the actual value of a stock, not the value at which it is trading in the secondary market. There are multiple ways to calculate the intrinsic value of a share. The most common method include discounted cash flow while adjusting the time value of money to calculate the present value of the stock is also a popular method.

Debt To Equity Ratio